Dustin Diamond has lived in Wisconsin since 2002, when he left California and moved to Port Washington.

The 41-year-old actor who played the lovable geek Samuel “Screech” Powers on the Saturday morning hit show “Saved by the Bell” has been doing stand-up comedy since the series ended nearly 20 years ago. But despite all the countries and cities he’s worked in, he can’t remember ever making the 90-mile drive from his home to Green Bay.

Until now.

Diamond is bringing his adult stand-up act to the Green Bay Distillery on Saturday.

He always had an appreciation for Green Bay and its football team. Before he moved to Wisconsin, he bought a Bart Starr-autographed helmet to put alongside his boxing memorabilia.

“Going up and playing Green Bay is going to be really fun,” Diamond said. “Even though I wasn’t born here, I like cheese and green is like my favorite color. And who doesn’t like gold?”

Diamond is a big fan of his new home state, although his time here hasn’t been drama free. There was that adult tape released in 2006 (he said it’s not really him in it), a villain role on “Celebrity Fit Club” in 2007 (he said it was an act) and a controversial tell-all book released in 2009 about his days on the "Saved by the Bell" set (he said it was ghostwritten).

He also made headlines in 2014, when he was arrested on Christmas Day in connection with a stabbing during a fight at the Grand Avenue Saloon just a few miles from his home. He was found guilty of two misdemeanors — carrying a concealed weapon and disorderly conduct with a concealed weapon — and sentenced to four months in jail. He was released a month early in April 2016 for good behavior.

Diamond answered questions for USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin.

So, you’ve never worked in Green Bay?

I think this is the first. I’ve been to 13 countries, 47 weeks out of the year I’m on the road. I’m usually traveling around. Now, the way I like to do it, I try to play smart with weather.

In the Wisconsin area, you probably won’t see me touring as much in January or February. That’s when I look to book gigs in Canada, or Mexico, or Turks and Caicos, or the Bahamas. During the hot times where it’s muggy and humid in the states like Florida, that’s when I do the Dakotas or Michigan.

Did you plan to live in Wisconsin this long?

Here’s the thing. Everybody in the entertainment industry, they all want to move to California. That’s where all the hot work is. Sure, there is stuff in Chicago and New York, especially. But for me, I was born out there. I lived out there 25 years. I did it and got a little burned out.

I needed a change of scenery. I played bass at the time, and I was recording an album. I was young, in my early 20s. A good buddy of mine came out and said, "Hey, I live in Wisconsin. Why don’t we arrange something out there?” We spent four months out here in a studio recording for the album. I have to say, during that four-month period, I just fell in love with it. I liked the vibe. I liked the people. I liked the whole general feel. … It was like Pleasantville. Clean, open, fresh air. I just felt the love and the vibe from the people.

In California, I never got to have snow. Never got to build a snowman. It was exciting for the first few times, and then I had to shovel. After shoveling, I was like, "Dude, screw this. I’m getting a blower or hire somebody else to do it." But I like it. I wouldn’t turn back.

Living in a small area like Port Washington, were people cool about not bothering you all the time?

It’s been pretty cool. When I first lived here, there were periods when people would drive by in the middle of the night and yell "Screech" at the house. Sometimes, that’s funny. I’m a night owl, so it doesn’t wake me up. But if I have friends over and they are sleeping on the couch and somebody comes up and rings the doorbell and yells "Screech," they are freaking out.

It has calmed down over the years, but I think I also got the benefit of, I’m getting older, man. I’m 41. A lot of my fan base is getting old and having kids. There is a period where a lot of the young kids who would do ding-dong ditch or pranks aren’t really going to mess with me because they are too young to know who I am. I’m in a good transitional spot. My fans are older and responsible now.

Are you surprised your comedy career has lasted two decades?

It was November of ‘98, and we had our wrap party for the series. We closed everything up. We were done. Officially done. We had said goodbye to each other a million times, but then we kept getting picked up and then spinoffs and another spinoff. I was 21 and I was in a weird position. I was in the business since I was 8 and was a seasoned pro. Everybody and their brother that I knew that was 21 said, "You are an adult now, what are you going to do?"

People had the world ahead of them, and yet I was being told the opposite. People were like, "Wow, you are probably never going to be as big as you were like that again." Which is not something you want to be told.

Long story short, my first time doing stand-up was five days after the wrap party. I wasn’t sure if I was going to do stand-up full-time. Once every few months I’d get up, and did it for two years. It was November 2000, and I was like, I had the stage presence and the timing. I just need the material. I don’t get nervous, but yet, on stage with stand-up, my heart would pound. It was such a different beast. I was getting nervous. Part of that pissed me off, but then I was like, I am a professional. I need to conquer this. I’m going to get up until I conquer it. I liked the excitement of it.

I decided at that two-year mark, I am going to get up anywhere and everywhere as much as I can. I am going to give this my all. The best part is the longevity of it. You are never going to get less material. You are only going to build on that and change and evolve.

How were you at the beginning?

When I first started, I was terrible. Stand-up comedy is a totally different beast than a sitcom and memorizing a script. I had to find my voice and who I was. People wanted to hear about “Saved by the Bell” and Screech, so I knew I had to mention it right off the bat, but at the same time, I didn’t want the naysayers to say this is all he talks about. He’s just going to live off the Screech thing forever.

I ended up being able to still have references and jokes to who I am and what I’ve done, but I have so much material that is built around my actual life and who I am that I’ve really gotten people to fall out of their chairs laughing.

Have you surprised some people with your adult humor or do they know what your act is?

It depends on how it’s advertised by the venue. The venue shouldn’t be saying Screech is coming to town, bring your kids. You’d be surprised, there are people who bring their children. Why is a 10-year-old in the audience? This is an R-rated show. There are some people that don’t understand that I’m not 11. It’s been 30 years. I was in Massachusetts and I did a gig, and it’s getting big laughs. All of a sudden, I see there are two young kids. They are old enough to where I’m uncomfortable with them being there, because of the topics being talked about by all the comedians. I mentioned maybe these guys shouldn’t be there, and the parents spoke up and said they are cool parents. If you say so. But it was uncomfortable. I wouldn’t bring my kids to an R-rated show, but to each their own.

Have you ever thought about challenging yourself to work clean?

I like adult humor. All the comedians I grew up with were adult humor. Robin Williams. George Carlin. Dice Clay. Sam Kinison. Richard Pryor. Eddie Murphy.

At the same time, one of my favorite comics is Brian Regan, and he’s clean. I really admire the fact that people can work that way. But, man, it’s so hard. It’s so difficult to write clean material and push the envelope and be good. It would be like if all movies were G-rated. … Writing something and going out and trying to do it completely clean is another set of hard work. I guess the way I want to put it is, for me, it would be like starting over in comedy. It takes so long to get a persona and get a voice.

Dustin Diamond(Photo: Ben A. Pruchnie/Getty Images)

Some of the noteworthy things people know about you aren’t all positive. The adult film, the book, the reality TV show, the jail stuff. Has that hurt your career or somehow helped it?

It’s both. A lot of these things are unfortunate and I wish hadn’t happened. The “Celebrity Fit Club” probably started the whole ball rolling. For me, the scripted bad guy thing I thought was good because to me, eight weeks of playing the crazy guy would be a good reel for me to show. I’m an actor. I want to continue working.

I made the mistake that because I was a professional in the business for so long, I didn’t factor in that reality TV, it’s scripted. None of it’s real. I get the TV part of it. I didn’t think people at home would see the reality part and think everything they are seeing is legit. … For me, the fake tape and the ghostwriter book and the "Celebrity Fit Club," all of that stuff backfired one after the other from what they were intended to be or what they were supposed to be.

Just by way of people don’t know how show biz really works. We also are in an age where we were around for the birth of the internet troll. Unfortunately, they are mighty and they have a lot of numbers.

Out of all the things that weren’t true, it obviously was true you had to go to jail for a while. Was that scary?

It was a totally freaky time. But at the same time, what are you supposed to do when you go out and your lady is getting hit by people? There are five guys and eight girls, and my girl got sucker punched. Some guy pulled her hair back.

I got up from my stool and when I stood up, this guy had her arms held behind her back keeping her from protecting herself. Not one but two girls were pummeling her from the front. What are you supposed to do when your lady is getting beat up?

They kept me separate from the troubled prisoners. You have the ones filled with the worst, and then you have ones where they didn’t pay child support or drinking and driving. There was a guy in there, no joke, because he had not paid a library card fee in 15 years. It was something ridiculous. I was put in like the medical part where there are guys with heart monitors on. I was going to be OK.

You do a lot of interviews. Does it get annoying to have to rehash all this?

The only part that is annoying is when people talk to you, it’s a difficult dichotomy. People are excited and they want to hear or have burning questions they want to ask regardless of how many millions of times I’ve been asked it. I have got to answer fresh to them, because to them it’s their first time. But people don’t stop to realize, for me, it’s the exact same conversation every day for 30 years.

But after 20 years went by and they put “Saved by the Bell” on Netflix, I watched them all in order again with friends with commentary. I kind of got some distance where I got to fall in love with the show again. It’s kind of cool having like a photo album of me every week from 11 to 21, all my weird years. It’s a video photo album. But the problem is, it’s me doing a fake voice and me pretending to be somebody else. I’m pretending to be Samuel Powers. It’s this weird, like, it’s me but it’s not. It’s a weird photo album to have.

It’s a good thing to get to play an iconic character, but you also get typecast. Is there ever a day where you regret doing it?

I understand the balance of it. The good outweighs the bad. Somebody put out on the internet a while back that I hate to be called Screech, he gets mad. I don’t know where that came from. The real answer is, every time somebody mentions Screech, they are excited. They have a smile on their face. It’s never a negative or mean thing. It’s just a big moment they want to share with me about the past, or how I got them through high school. That is incredibly flattering. It’s such a good thing, to be a household name for eternity.

You are the only one from the entire cast to be in all versions of “Saved by the Bell,” including “Good Morning Miss Bliss.” Were you going to keep doing it until they told you not to, or was there any thinking of moving on before you got typecast?

Everyone’s dream as an actor is to land a sitcom role and land a sitcom that is a No. 1 show and be world famous. To get that, and actually have it become reality, now you have to switch your dream of planning to walk away from the show. It’s always an iffy moment. I’m going to leave the show to pursue my movie career, and then that doesn’t happen.

Suddenly, you’re going, "Man, I should have stayed with the show." That’s 400 paychecks you could have had. It’s hard to walk away from steady work and guaranteed work. … For me, I always kept faith that in the end, everything would work out. Everything happens for a reason.